


Who is sleeping on duty?

by Apphia_Rotho



Series: Deeply Sleeping, Waking, and Rising [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: 3rd Person changing POV, Bittersweet Ending, Emperor Hux, Female Friendship, I am not lying about the death here, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Massive Death, Multi, NOTHING IS GOOD AND EVERYTHING HURTS, Not Canon Compliant, The First Order Rises, all the heroes are going to die, and then everything is good and nothing hurts, in horrible and brutal ways, post episode vii, pre episode vii, the bad guys win
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 08:02:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6649222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apphia_Rotho/pseuds/Apphia_Rotho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first the recording is just general chatter-nothing useful and irrelevant to this 'urgent matter' the intelligence officer alerted her to. Then it comes, almost an offhanded comment from the dispatcher to the TIE runner.</p><p>"Final alert for op 1R-1R, be aware of tapped and sleeping resources on ground. Over." </p><p>"Repeating, runners aware of tapped and sleeping resources. Affirmative. Radio silence beginning, over."</p><p>General Leia Organa has never felt fear this deeply, not even when the Death Star targeted Alderaan. There is only one question running through her head as she leaves the intelligence branch of the base to return to her command center. </p><p>"Who is sleeping?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who is sleeping on duty?

**32 ABY**

She's been sitting at the check-in station for hours. People have been milling about the port for even longer-it is never not busy here, especially on this planet. The group of recruits has grown around her and a blonde man who calls himself Mar has taken it upon himself to befriend her. She likes him and his endless babble about ships' fine wiring. His speech runs smoothly from one topic to another-like he's born to talk and talk and talk without an organic end. He transitions from ships to general engineering to his time at a university for mechanics to his family ties to the school. He claims that he's the son of a friend of a friend of General Leia Organa herself. She doesn't doubt him and she's content to tune out his ranting.

Said ranting is cut short anyway when they're called to start loading the transport. Mar lines up behind her when they start to fall in. A moment of nervousness freezes her in place at the sight of the gaping emptiness within the shuttle bay, but a gentle prod from Mar's bag behind her gets her feet moving again. The group they've formed trots on in and lines up perfectly with the harnesses on the bench marking seating. They both shed their coats and wrap them around their bags. The bags are thrown up onto a shelf above the bench lined with harnesses. An officer comes in behind them and watches them for a few minutes until everyone on both sides of the bay are standing around, at a loss for their next step.

The officer begins telling them how to secure the harnesses and how the departure/docking procedures work. Mar gets elbowed in the neck once things everyone moves in a flurry to sit down and his flinch makes her lose her grip on one half of the harness. She has to redo the entire thing and she curses at him while he grins back at her widely, remarking on her flustered fidgeting with the clasps and buckles. By the time she's sitting and secured, the bay door is half closed and the lights are beginning to go out. Mar is mumbling under his breath-listing off all the procedures and checks that are going on around them.

"Bay door locking and pressurizing, secondary locks moving into closed position, auxiliary lights online, internal systems re-pressurizing for departure, ventilation system coming online..."

His mumbling continues for the entire trip away from the docking bay and up into the air. When they leave the atmosphere everything shakes and groans horribly, drag and friction and wind outside working their ways. She and a few others scream when debris hits the side of the shuttle suddenly and shocks the entire structure. The air begins to get warm and the red back-up lights come on. She makes eye contact with the cadet across from her who is wide-eyed and terrified. She doesn't relax until they're well into the light speed jump. Mar laughs at her when she unclenches her fingers from the harness and rubs feeling back into them.

"Hey, we'll be fine. This model is well known for being practically indestructible. You'd need an ion canon to take one of these things apart!" Mar reassures her gently, and any one within ear shot.

She just scowls at him, but somehow his statement does what he intended. Conversation starts picking up down the line from them within seconds and the two new friends settle into an only-slightly strained companionable silence together. The air is getting warmer, uncomfortably so, and she starts to sweat. Mar leans his head back and wiggles around in his seat-getting comfortable in any way he can in the harness. She looks around, notices he's the only one taking that particular liberty, and decides to join him. An hour later, the two of them are leaned against each other, sweating and snoring while the shuttle travels silently through space.

 

* * *

 

The shuttle shakes around her. Mar, next to her, trembles with it and grips tightly to the harness that holds them to the long line of the bench. His yellow hair is plastered to his forehead, just as her brown hair is to hers. It is unbearably hot in the shuttle and the number of faceless bodies around them are sweating too. The air is thick and muggy, humid with all their sweat and a few tears. Mar crinkles his nose and soon she does too: somewhere close by, someone's pissed themselves.

"Let's hope that they have the budget to fix the heat shield on this death trap, eh?" She nudges him. He shakes his head, an exasperated grin turning up his lips as another hit of turbulence shakes the shuttle. The she adds, as an afterthought when she spots the wetness on the ground leaking from the seat of a cadet further down the bench, carrying the ammonia smell with it. "Maybe a better ventilation system too."

"Shut up. It'll hold together. That crazy old bat at the top wouldn't let a transport full of recruits go up in smoke. Besides, this class of shuttle has always been dodgy with air circulation-its the fan designs in the vents. All the blades are backwards, they're twisted the wrong way even if they're spinning up the right way." Mar explains to his companion. She just sighs a silent, amused exhale and lets him continue to rant. He could go for hours about spacecraft designs and their flaws (she knew from experience back at the recruitment center). He was a brilliant engineer and an even more brilliant mechanic but that experience only seemed to make him more nervous than the other cadets and recruits around them. The shuttle groans as it finally enters the middle atmosphere and Mar flinches at the sound when they begin to hit a jet stream on the way down.

"Still confident in this rusty toy, pretty boy?" She teases easily. Mar just nudges her sharply with his elbow and falls silent. The rest of the trip they are shaken, jostled sharply, and thrown from one side to another as they begin their landing on D'Qar. Mar spends the interregnum quietly flinching or cringing at every loud metal groan or mechanical cough. She leans her head back and grits her teeth.

The shuttle's landing is the only smooth part of the entire trip, even counting its take-off from Coruscant. Of course, the moment that thought crosses through both their minds, the release and pressurizing units seem to want to work simultaneously, causing lights above them to sputter out. They're forced to remove their harnesses in the dark while mist and hot hair are pumped into the shuttle cargo bay where they sit. Bags are picked up and pulled off of shelves, coats are pulled on, and at one point Mar's sleeve is hooked on a strap for his neighbor's harness before the lights come back on. Somewhere in the mess, she was jabbed in the face by her neighbor's elbow. The back bay opens, sending bright light cascading in and blinding everyone for a few seconds.

"Alright, everyone out, single file like you went in!" A voice calls in to them. They file out, just as they had going in, and Mar squints against the sun shining without cover directly in his eyes. There are trees, dark green and muted, and mountains far off in the distance to their right. Birds, somewhere, squawk and chase each other up into the sky. It's early, probably, if how low it sits compared to the horizon is any indication but the officer watching them appears to be bright-eyed and chipper.

"Someone overdid their caf this morning." Mar murmurs, leaning back just a bit to speak to her. She hums her agreement as the officer starts speaking in a loud, carrying timbre. His voice echoes around them just as people in a number of drably colored clothes and uniforms start to appear seemingly out of the hills. He briefs them quickly on the layout of the base and what is expected of them as they adjust to the environment. Before long he's reading out station assignments, bunk and quarter assignments, ranks, times to meet with superiors, and minor duty reminders. They're allowed to disband the rank and file just as the sun starts to warm up the air around them. Mist seeps out of the forest and the first sounds of animals other than birds leak out with it.

"Well, that was only marginally worse than pulling teeth." Mar snarks when the officer is well out of earshot. She laughs.

* * *

 

_The woman sits at a table in an unremarkable room. The room is bare, but the table is not. Two chairs, one occupied by her, two empty plates, two forks. A meal is set for two-well, dessert really. A pie that smells like home, still warm from an oven, covered in whipped white cream that melts just a bit in between the slices in the pan. It smells like home, like safety, and the woman sweats under the uncomfortable, plain clothing she wears. Her hair is brown, her eyes matching, and she is as plain as the average day. Unremarkable and easy to forget._

_She's sat in silence, in isolation, for so long she's lost track of the passage of time. The pie is still warm, however, when the door opens and a man clad in black enters. He wears a cowl that covers his head and a mask that disguises him completely. His cloak is tattered, charred in places. His footsteps sound heavy even though he walks lightly and the chair scraps when he pulls it away from the table. He takes his seat across from her._

_He gets comfortable and she reaches forward. He is familiar to her, as she is to him. She finds no hesitation in her gut as her hands set to work. Her fork is picked up and she carefully slides his plate towards her hand as she pulls a slice out of the pan. It is sent gently, carefully, onto the plate and slid back to him. Her own is slice is plated carefully and her tongue anticipates the taste as a tiny bit of the melted whipped cream slides down the side of the slice. A nervous tension suddenly appears behind her lungs when he clears his throat._

_"Are you ready?"_

_"Yes, Master."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus concludes the prologue chapter. If you have any questions you can ask me privately or find me at tumblr: liferockingitout


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